The two people who appeared in the basketball gym at that moment were Sakuragi Hanamichi and Coach Anzai.
Haruko Akagi exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my god! Why is Hanamichi Sakuragi here with Coach Anzai?"
Akagi Takenori, who was training, suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at the entrance of the basketball gym in shock.
Kiminobu Kogure was also shocked.
How did Sakuragi Hanamichi come to know Coach Anzai?
Moreover, judging from their demeanor, they clearly came together.
After a brief moment of shock, Takenori Akagi immediately ran towards Coach Anzai.
Kiminobu Kogure followed closely behind.
Akagi Takenori and Kogure Kiminobu both stood up straight and respectfully greeted Coach Anzai: "Good morning, Coach Anzai!"
Haruko Akagi didn't greet Coach Anzai, but she jogged over and looked at Hanamichi Sakuragi with concern, seemingly eager to find out why he hadn't come to see her after school.
Coach Anzai, still sporting a kind smile, said gently, "Hello, everyone."
At that moment, Takenori Akagi also looked at Hanamichi Sakuragi and questioned, "Hanamichi Sakuragi, what are you doing here?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi was about to speak when Coach Anzai interrupted him.
Coach Anzai said with a smile, "I invited Sakuragi Hanamichi to come over."
Upon hearing this, Akagi Takenori, Kogure Kiminobu, and Akagi Haruko were all taken aback.
how so?
Sakuragi Hanamichi was very pleased to see that Coach Anzai had silenced Akagi Takenori with just one sentence!
You gorilla, you still expect me to explain what happened yesterday to you?
What the hell am I supposed to explain?!
Coach Anzai invited me back, how dare you give me attitude?
Coach Anzai didn't explain, and said directly, "I'm here today for two things. One is that I've arranged an inter-school practice match for you against the Ryonan basketball team."
Lingnan Basketball Team?
That's a formidable team that made it into the top four in the county last year!
The surrounding players gasped in surprise and began to discuss the matter.
After all, the Shohoku basketball team's performance last year was abysmal, and now they are directly playing a practice match against last year's top four teams, which makes everyone very excited.
Of course, the average player feels more anxious and lacks confidence.
Seeing this, Takenori Akagi immediately shouted, "Stop talking and line up!"
Coach Anzai looked at everyone and said, "Hmm, quite a few new students have indeed joined this year, very good! This is the second thing I want to talk about. I'd like you to have a practice match between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen. Takenori Akagi, you can arrange this."
Akagi Takenori nodded and said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
Then, Takenori Akagi looked at everyone and said loudly, "Second and third year students will form one team, and first-year students will form another team. Let's have an intra-team practice match."
Immediately afterwards, Takenori Akagi began calling out names.
But even after all 10 names were called, Sakuragi Hanamichi's name was still not among them!
This left Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was ready to show off his skills, somewhat bewildered.
Is the gorilla deliberately targeting me?
Sakuragi Hanamichi shouted, "Akagi Takenori-senpai, I'm the tallest freshman, why wasn't I assigned to participate in the competition?"
If you are treated unfairly, you must speak out!
Akagi Takenori said coldly, "You haven't warmed up yet, so you're not ready to go on the field right away."
What is that?
Do we need to warm up before a practice match?
Sakuragi Hanamichi immediately wanted to retort.
Unexpectedly, Coach Anzai spoke up at this moment. He waved to Sakuragi Hanamichi with a smile and said, "Sakuragi Hanamichi, please calm down. I think Captain Akagi Takenori is right. You can warm up on the sidelines for now, and I will arrange for you to play later."
Akagi Takenori hadn't originally planned to have Sakuragi Hanamichi play, but when he heard Coach Anzai say this, he couldn't stop or refute Coach Anzai's decision, so he felt a little annoyed.
Seeing that Coach Anzai had made such arrangements, Sakuragi Hanamichi took the opportunity to back down and didn't pursue the matter any further.
The match begins.
The two sides jump the ball.
Akagi Takenori and Rukawa Kaede, who were standing in the middle, jumped at the same time.
Surprisingly, the two players touched the ball at the same time!
The two sides are evenly matched!
The 187cm tall Rukawa Kaede was evenly matched with the 197cm tall Akagi Takenori during the jump ball!
This made everyone on the field think even more highly of Rukawa Kaede!
The basketball flew out at an angle after being touched by both players at the same time.
Just then, Kiminobu Kogure quickly made a run and caught the basketball.
Among everyone present, besides Rukawa Kaede and Akagi Takenori, Kogure Kiminobu was the best basketball player!
After receiving the ball, Kiminobu Kogure quickly launched an attack.
The older students also quickly moved forward.
Takenori Akagi drove straight into the paint.
Although Kiminobu Kogure has the ability to shoot three-pointers, he usually chooses to play inside and pass the ball to Takenori Akagi so that Akagi can score. This is the safest way to play.
This match between upperclassmen and first-year students was, in a sense, a confrontation between Takenori Akagi and Kaede Rukawa.
Rukawa Kaede was naturally aware of this, so he chose to defend against Akagi Takenori.
As expected, Kiminobu Kogure passed the ball!
He's going to pass it on to Takenori Akagi!
I knew it would be like this!
With a "whoosh"!
Rukawa Kaede stole the ball!
Akagi Takenori was instantly shocked!
Akagi Takenori knew, of course, that Rukawa was defending him, but he had clearly positioned himself well. How could Rukawa have so nimbly moved forward again?
But there was no time to think about it; the most important thing now was to quickly get back on defense!
The older students immediately returned to defend.
Rukawa intercepted the ball and launched a quick counterattack, but he was a step too late; the older students were already prepared to defend.
Kogure Kiminobu rushed up to defend Rukawa Kaede, attempting to steal the ball.
Surprisingly, Rukawa Kaede passed the ball directly! This lone wolf-like character, Rukawa Kaede, didn't try to take on Kogure Kiminobu one-on-one but instead chose to pass the ball.
Rukawa Kaede passed the ball to Kuwata Jiro, who was standing near the three-point line.
Immediately afterwards, Rukawa Kaede quickly moved forward into the paint, immediately positioned himself, and waved for the ball.
This is a classic coordinated move, and Rukawa Kaede executed each step perfectly.
But at that moment, Kuwata Jiro did not choose to pass the ball to Rukawa Kaede!
Kuwata Jiro suddenly started dribbling the ball himself, trying to drive towards the inside!
Rukawa Kaede's brows furrowed instantly.
He didn't expect that Kuwata Jiro, who was only 162cm tall, would be so reckless as to choose to dribble and lay up himself.
Keep in mind, the best center in Kanagawa is Takenori Akagi!
Logically speaking, the best choice for Kuwata Jiro just now would have been to pass it to the super rookie Rukawa Kaede.
But at this moment, Kuwata Jiro was extremely excited. "I was an excellent striker when I was in junior high school! I never thought I'd be playing defense now. I'm going to show the captain and the others my striker skills!"
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